The indictment against Eric Adams is unfortunately very funny – Mother Jones

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The news New York City Mayor Eric Adams’s indictment came as no surprise to anyone. For one thing, federal authorities began searching the homes of people associated with his campaign in November 2023, amid many, many, many reports of the mayor’s suspiciously frequent luxury trips to Turkey, not to mention rumors of donations from foreigners.

For another, the mayor is just a deeply strange guy, and it really seemed like anything was possible with him. But now that Adams has been officially charged with bribery, wire fraud, conspiracy, and soliciting campaign contributions from foreign nationals, one thing that comes as a bit of a shock is how profound, grim, and unfortunately funny some of it is.

The indictment alleges that for at least a decade, since his time as Brooklyn borough president, Adams accepted “improper benefits” from wealthy Turkish citizens and officials with ties to the Turkish government. These benefits included luxury hotel stays, upgraded airline tickets, free meals at upscale restaurants, and “luxury entertainment” during his frequent trips to Turkey. The indictment also alleges that he and his mayoral campaign team blatantly and willingly accepted what a reasonable person would perceive as bribes from Turkish citizens. They accepted large sums of illegal donations from bogus donors in exchange for preferential treatment, including pressuring the fire department to approve the construction of a luxury high-rise to house the Turkish consulate. They terminated their ties to a Turkish community center in Brooklyn that Turkey says is hostile to the government. And they refused to make a statement on the day of remembrance of the Armenian genocide just because a “Turkish official” asked them to do so.

All of this is arguably less funny; perhaps, given the extent and duration of the alleged corruption, not funny at all. But if you look past the seriousness of the allegations, Mayor Adams and his campaign staff are accused of behaving in a manner so breathtakingly silly and truly profoundly unwise that the whole thing goes beyond ordinary criminality and reaches a comedic level.

For example: her obligation to keep everything in writing – far more than any competent lawyer would recommend. After Adams began traveling to Turkey in 2015 and received extremely good deals on Turkish Airlines, prosecutors say he went out of his way to instruct his partner to only buy tickets on Turkish Air. Adams, the indictment says, “flew with Turkish Airline even when it would have been otherwise inconvenient. For example, during the July and August 2017 trip, Adams’ partner was surprised to learn that ADAMS was in Turkey, even though she had understood him to be flying from New York to France. ADAMS responded in a text message, ‘Change here. They know the first stop is always Istanbul (sic).'” Furthermore, the report continues, when Adams’ partner wanted to plan a trip to Easter Island, “Adams repeatedly asked her if they could fly Turkish Airline for their flights, after which she had to call Turkish Airline to confirm that they had no connections between New York and Chile.”

A text message that reads “First stop is always Istanbul” will surely enter the lexicon of phrases that indicate blatant political corruption. But the incredible dedication to putting everything in writing goes much further. Adams and his staff, the prosecution says, even typed up discussions about deleting evidence. “To be on the safe side, please delete all messages you send me,” one staff member wrote to Adams, who is said to have replied cheerfully, “I always do.”

While they tried to cover their paper trail, Adams and his associates allegedly created a far dumber one. In 2017, for example, Adams emailed his planner demanding that he pay for some free flights he had already taken on Turkish Air. But, the indictment says, “the emails contained conflicting statements: in some, ADAMS suggested that the Adams planner pay with ADAMS’ credit card, while in others, ADAMS claimed he had left cash in an envelope for the Adams planner to send to Turkish Airline.” The indictment also dryly notes that, given the value of the tickets, Adams would have had to have placed at least $10,000 in cash in a desk drawer to send to Turkish Airline for flights he had already taken months earlier. “He did not do so,” the indictment helpfully adds, “since Turkish Airline records confirm that ADAMS did not pay the airline in cash or any other way because the tickets were free.”

Another grimly comic aspect of the indictment is Adams’ surprising willingness to immediately accept a pile of money, even cash — a fact that was again laid out in writing and with perfect clarity. In June 2018, an Adams associate and a Turkish businessperson — referred to in the document as “the promoter” — discussed another trip by Adams. According to the indictment, the promoter wrote, “Fundraising is not legal in Turkey, but I think I can raise money for your campaign unofficially.” The Adams associate reportedly responded, “How will (Adams) declare this money here?” The promoter replied, “He will not declare it… Or… We make the donation through an American citizen in the U.S…. A Turk… I will give him cash in Turkey… Or I will send it to an American… He will donate it to you.”

Any reasonable person would recognize this as, shall we say, a problem. And indeed, Adams’s representative seemed to recognize the warning signs, responding, “I don’t think he would get involved in those games. They could cause a huge uproar later,” but adding, “I’m going to ask anyway.” The promoter said he could contribute “$100,000 max,” to which the representative replied, “100,000? Do you have any way of wiring that here? … We can’t do it while Eric is in Turkey,” to which the promoter replied, “Let’s think about it.”

“After this conversation,” the indictment states, “the Adams employee asked ADAMS if the Adams employee should follow up on the illegal foreign donations offered by the event organizer, and contrary to the Adams employee’s expectations, ADAMS instructed the Adams employee to follow up on the event organizer’s illegal scheme.” Later, when advising his employees about another Turkish businessman offering illegal donations, Adams wrote that the businessman “was willing to help. I don’t want his willingness to help to be wasted (sic).”

The indictment goes on and on and on like this. When Turkish university officials once promised $20,000 in “donations” to Adams’ 2021 mayoral campaign in exchange for his attendance at an event, an Adams aide responded, “If the donation is not more than $25,000, Mr. President will not attend in person.” In another case, Adams allegedly appointed the general manager of Turkish Airlines to his transition team after telling an Adams aide, “It would be a good fit for me to be a leader or senior advisor.” Two days later, he repeated this, writing, “Leadership please 🙂 Otherwise, seat number 52 is empty… On the way back.” As the indictment helpfully explains, that meant, “If the airline manager does not receive a position on a transition committee, it would impact ADAMS’ travel benefits from the Turkish airline.”

The hilarious affair continued until federal authorities caught up with him. On November 6, 2023, the FBI executed a search warrant on Adams and seized some of his electronic devices, including an iPad and a cell phone.

“Although ADAMS carried several electronic devices, including two cell phones, he did not have his personal cell phone with him,” the indictment continues, “the device he used to communicate in the conduct described in this indictment. When Adams produced the phone the next day in response to a subpoena, it was locked and password protected.”

“ADAMS claimed that after learning of the investigation into his conduct, he changed the password … and increased the complexity of his password from four to six digits,” the indictment continues with a serious face. “ADAMS did this, he claimed, to prevent co-workers from accidentally or intentionally erasing the contents of his phone because, according to ADAMS, he wanted to preserve the contents of his phone due to the investigation. But, ADAMS further claimed, he forgot the password he had just set and therefore could not provide the FBI with a password that would unlock the phone.”

By Thursday afternoon, Adams was defiant, releasing a statement he recorded before the indictment was unsealed in which he promised to fight the charges “with every ounce of my strength and spirit.” If he keeps that promise, there will likely be continued unbelievable, almost surreal, morbid comedy.